Large parts of Belgium have come to a standstill as transport strikes caused serious disruption in Brussels and the French-speaking region and exposed the political fault lines of the divided country.

Train drivers were on strike on Tuesday for the sixth consecutive day, bringing to a halt most services in French-speaking Wallonia and delaying journeys in Brussels and Dutch-speaking Flanders. Some trains to Paris and German cities were delayed or cancelled, although Eurostar said it was sticking to its scheduled timetable.

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Public transport in Brussels was also disrupted for the second time in a week, with metro trains running every 15-20 minutes, according to transport authority STIB. In some French-speaking cities disruption was greater, with unions vowing that no trains, buses or trams would run in the city of Charleroi. Some postal workers were on strike and rubbish was not collected in Brussels.

While trains ground to a halt in Francophone parts of the country in a dispute over a reduction in overtime pay, 50-65% of trains were running in Flanders, exposing the differences between the north and the less affluent, French-speaking south, where the unions are more powerful.

The different approach to industrial action was reflected by the decision of two Francophone unions to reject a deal with the justice ministry to end a five-week prison-officers’ strike. Belgium’s justice minister, Koen Geens, promised on Monday to hire more prison officers, a concession that allowed him to reach an agreement with four out of six of the country’s prison-officers’ unions – the three Flemish unions and one liberal Francophone group.

Meanwhile, several thousand workers, including teachers, train drivers and firefighters, marched in Brussels, to protest against cuts to public services. Some were waving placards that read “fighting for our rights”.

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Trade unions have also been protesting against attempts to change Belgium’s labour laws. The government wants to make it easier for employers to hire part-time workers on short-term contracts, but union critics say this will lead to the introduction of zero-hour contracts in Belgium.

The strikes have provoked a furious backlash from student unions, who fear disruption during exam season. “There are few schools that are functioning normally today,” Pascal Chardome, an official with the CGSP union, told Belgian TV channel RTBF. Most schools were reported to be open, although pupils were likely to have been affected by transport strikes.

The FGTB union, which claims 1.5 million members, has called a general strike for 24 June to protest against government policies of “austerity and labour-market flexibility”. Separately, judges have announced rolling strikes during the first week in June to protest against cuts to legal budgets.

The month of strikes is a blow to the centre-right/liberal coalition government, which has just approved a €4m (£3m) campaign aimed at revitalising Belgium’s image abroad following the Brussels attacks.

The lopsided nature of industrial action is not new to Belgium, but is seen as creating more tensions than before, because the Flemish separatists, the N-VA (New Flemish Alliance), are now the largest party in government.

A traveller stands in front of an information board at a Belgian railway station. Photograph: François Lenoir/Reuters

Bart de Wever, the N-VA leader, tweeted to accuse the Francophone Parti Socialiste of sabotaging progress and destroying jobs. Some politicians fear the strikes have the potential to fracture Belgium even further, a country that already struggles to manage divisions between three regions and three linguistic groups.

Mark de Vos, labour market professor and director of the Itinera thinktank, said the strikes reflected general discontent across western countries, but also had a particular Belgian twist. He said: “For the first time we have Flemish nationalists in the government ... and that creates a double layer of opposition from the south to the north.”

The “exceptional” government configuration has heightened longstanding cultural differences in Belgium, De Vos suggested. “The dividing line between the German and the Roman identity runs through Belgium. The north of the country is much more pragmatic and wants to get things done and has less difficulty with capitalism, whereas the south of the country is like France and you have unions who have not made their peace with capitalism.”